ILLUSTRATION FROM
"A BOOK OF NURSERY
SONGS AND RHYMES"
BY MARY J. NEWILL
(METHUEN AND CO. 1895)
Others, like George Du Maurier, so rarely touched the subject that they can hardly be regarded as wholly belonging to our theme. Yet "Misunderstood," by Florence Montgomery (1879), illustrated by Du Maurier, is too popular to leave unnoticed. Mr. A. W. Bayes, who has deservedly won fame in other fields, illustrated "Andersen's Tales" (Warne, 1865), probably his earliest work, as a contemporary review speaks of the admirable designs "by an artist whose name is new to us."
ILLUSTRATION FROM "THE ELF-ERRANT" BY W. E. F. BRITTEN (LAWRENCE AND BULLEN. 1895)
It is a matter for surprise and regret that Mr. Howard Pyle's illustrated books are not as well known in England as they deserve to be. And this is the more vexing when you find that any one with artistic sympathy is completely converted to be a staunch admirer of Mr. Pyle's work by a sight of "The Wonder Clock," a portly quarto, published by Harper Brothers in 1894. It seems to be the only book conceived in purely Düreresque line, which can be placed in rivalry with Mr. Walter Crane's illustrated "Grimm," and wise people will be only too delighted to admire both without attempting to compare them. Mr. Pyle is evidently influenced by Dürer—with a strong trace of Rossetti—but he carries both influences easily, and betrays a strong personality throughout all the designs. The "Merry Adventures of Robin Hood" and "Otto of the Silver Hand" are two others of about the same period, and the delightful volume collected from Harper's Young People for the most part, entitled "Pepper and Salt," may be placed with them. All the illustrations to these are in pure line, and have the appearance of being drawn not greatly in excess of the reproduced size. Of all these books Mr. Howard Pyle is author as well as illustrator.
Of late he has changed his manner in line, showing at times, especially in "Twilight Land" (Osgood, McIlvaine, 1896), the influence of Vierge, but even in that book the frontispiece and many other designs keep to his earlier manner.
In "The Garden behind the Moon" (issued in London by Messrs. Lawrence and Bullen) the chief drawings are entirely in wash, and yet are singularly decorative in their effect. The "Story of Jack Bannister's Fortunes" shows the artist's "colonial" style, "Men of Iron," "A Modern Aladdin," Oliver Wendell Holmes' "One-Horse Shay," are other fairly recent volumes. His illustrations have not been confined to his own stories as "In the Valley," by Harold Frederic, "Stops of Various Quills" (poems by W. D. Howells), go to prove.